An Opportunity

A sudden loud noise slammed from behind her head, followed by a few hurried coughs.

Fu Liangxia slowly turned around and saw Xue Changgui, looking frantic, making exaggerated faces at her while coughing desperately, with Cheng Xingzhou sitting upright beside him.

What a coincidence—running into him again.

But what on earth was this little chubby guy doing with all those strange expressions?

Fu Liangxia thought for a moment, then picked up the heavy book for him. "No need to thank me."

Xue Changgui: "..."

No, no, no! Sister! Did you not realize what earth-shattering, heartless words you just said—right in front of the president?

Xu Cai frowned at him too. "Is something wrong with your eyes?"

The boy next to them kindly offered: "I have artificial tears. Need some? They work pretty well, but this brand is seriously expensive..."

Xue Changgui was in despair.

Afraid that his poor deputy would be driven insane, Cheng Xingzhou spoke up considerately: "What he means is, shut up."

Only then did the others realize, with a jolt, that there were people seated behind them who had been entirely left out of their discussion. "..."

Cheng Xingzhou, however, lowered his gaze and studied Fu Liangxia in the row ahead.

She was dressed just as she had been that morning, the only difference being her hair was down now. Her expression was calm and composed, looking every bit the obedient, good student she usually pretended to be.

Completely different from the person she became when they were alone.

At that thought, Cheng Xingzhou couldn't help recalling that morning's encounter in the supply closet—the softness of her body, the faint, elusive scent, the sly glint in her eyes...

His gaze unconsciously darkened.

To his surprise, she happened to look up at that very moment, and their eyes met.

Fu Liangxia's eyes were as clear as a pool of still water, with not a hint of awkwardness in them.

Right. He should have known long ago that she was this kind of person—someone who threw the word "like" around so casually, someone who couldn't stick to one person for more than a few days before falling for someone else.

Completely fickle.

"You really think so?"

As if things weren't chaotic enough, the person in front of Fu Liangxia suddenly spun around—and that shocked, all-too-familiar face belonged to none other than Fu Liedong.

He looked at her like he'd just discovered a new continent. "So you've got this kind of thing going on, sis? I had no idea."

"..."

Saintland was way too small. Of all the people to run into here.

The only saving grace was that Su Xingshu himself wasn't present—as long as she didn't say it to his face, the embarrassment was bearable.

Fu Liangxia shot Fu Liedong a look. "Pay attention to the lecture. None of your business."

With that, she turned back around and focused intently on the lesson, looking utterly absorbed in what the teacher was saying.

Cheng Xingzhou stared at the back of Fu Liangxia's head, his mind drifting.

In his memory, he'd rarely seen her from behind.

Back before she'd come to Saintland, she was always the one trailing after him. When he walked too fast, she'd silently follow behind, until she'd trip over flat ground or go pale from running out of breath... Back then, the other guys they hung out with would always crowd around her with concern and glare at him accusingly.

As if he were some irredeemable villain.

And she was the princess being tormented by the villain in a fairy tale.

Fu Liangxia had always been good at making people like her. When she looked at someone with those bright, sparkling eyes, very few could bear to refuse her.

But Cheng Xingzhou could.

What he hadn't expected was that she would never look at him that way again.

She said she liked people who could sing well, and earlier on the phone, she'd told Su Xingshu that "she'd liked him before."

Liked him. As in, no longer did.

At the time, he'd been too caught up in his own emotions to realize that the two of them had gotten close enough to discuss such things.

In hindsight, the signs had probably been there all along.

The two of them were both good at making people like them, so it shouldn't be surprising if they fell for each other.

So why did his heart ache with a dull, persistent pain?

...

[Affinity Points with Cheng Xingzhou +2. Current Affinity Points: 60.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have established a "more than friends, less than lovers" relationship with Target #2, Cheng Xingzhou.]

[Task reward is being distributed. Please make your selection:]

A. Six million in liquid currency

B. Six Health Points

Health Points?

Fu Liangxia asked the System what that meant. It explained that after each main quest was completed, she would receive corresponding Existence Points, which would reduce the number of times the world's will rejected her.

The main reason her body was in such poor shape was that the world's will was rejecting her. Once her Existence Points increased, her Health Points would automatically rise. However, if the Host couldn't tolerate the random illnesses, she could also exchange her reward for Health Points instead.

Fu Liangxia didn't consider herself someone who couldn't endure pain, and besides, from the System's tone, it seemed it didn't recommend that option either.

So she skipped past it and looked at the final choice.

C. An opportunity

An opportunity?

Compared to the previous two options, this one was far too abstract.

It didn't say what kind of opportunity, nor did it guarantee she could seize it. It was just a possibility.

But somehow, it was exactly to her liking.

After all, catching opportunities was what she did best.

Fu Liangxia chose Option C without hesitation. Yet until school let out, this so-called opportunity never came, as if the reward had simply vanished.

She remained remarkably patient, going about her business as usual. After her classes, she logged onto the school website, found the recruitment page for Su Xingshu's Fan Club, filled out the form, and submitted it.

Now she just had to wait for a response.

Since Fu Liangxia only had classes during the first two periods of the afternoon, she had free time after submitting her application. Remembering that she'd need to wait for Fu Haoyao in the classroom after school, she decided to skip the library and headed back to the classroom instead.

There weren't many people in the room. Fu Liedong had grabbed his basketball and left right after art appreciation, and most of the class had probably gone to play ball. Or, like Xu Cai and the others who had no interest in studying, they had found a club room to sip afternoon tea and gossip.

Fu Liangxia enjoyed the peace and quiet. She walked to her seat and noticed, to her surprise, that both seats beside her had books placed on them, as if their owners had returned.

Given the identities of the two people who'd come back to school today, it was pretty obvious who her deskmates were.

Looks like she'd gotten herself a prime seat.

Fu Liangxia rubbed her brow. She had a feeling the days ahead wouldn't be calm.

Even as that thought crossed her mind, she pulled out her textbooks without a moment's hesitation. She wasn't one of those rich kids at school, new money or old. She needed the money, and she really wanted that end-of-semester scholarship.

She wasn't a genius, so she'd just have to work harder. The one saving grace was that the material was pretty much the same—it wasn't like she had zero foundation.

Fu Liangxia bent over her desk, her hair pulled up, her eyes fixed intently on the pages as she occasionally scribbled notes with her pen.

That was the scene Fu Haoyao walked in on.

The sunlight happened to fall just right, landing on the girl by the window. She sat tall and straight, her skin so fair it nearly dazzled the eyes.

"Knock, knock." He leaned against the back door frame and rapped twice on the door, not too hard, not too soft.

The sound didn't catch Fu Liangxia's attention, but it did make the people studying nearby look up. When they saw Fu Haoyao's arrogant, unruly face, they immediately shrank back like frightened quails.

Meanwhile, the person he'd actually come for was still buried in her books.

Was she really that absorbed?

Fu Haoyao had no choice but to walk over to her desk, reaching out to grasp the pen between her fingers.

His hand brushed against hers as they both pressed down on the black pen, making their two hands look even paler in contrast.

He looked down at her. "That focused, Teacher Fu?"

His tone carried its usual lazy drawl, the last syllable trailing upward, and the words "Teacher Fu" rolled off his tongue with a mocking twist.

"You're here?" Fu Liangxia looked up, pulling her thoughts away from the textbook. "Where are we going?"

Fu Haoyao straightened up. "Won't disappoint you, that's for sure."

The place they went for dinner didn't just fail to disappoint—it was practically the height of luxury.

The entire lobby of the club was styled like a medieval ballroom, with intricate Victorian decor and dazzling colors, every corner exuding opulence.

It was hard to imagine this place matching Fu Langshu's tastes. And yet, when a man in a black shirt and gray trousers rose from the leather sofa in the center of the hall and looked up, everything suddenly made perfect sense.

He'd been idly flipping through a newspaper to pass the time. With his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs, framed against the murals, he looked almost like a vampire duke from a Western fantasy, hiding away in his castle.

When Fu Langshu saw them enter, he set the paper back on the rack beside him and walked over.

Perhaps because this was a formal setting, Fu Liangxia felt he seemed subtly different from when she'd seen him at the Fu residence. He was radiating a faint, oppressive aura.

As he drew closer, she realized it wasn't her imagination—he really was in a bad mood.

Fu Langshu gave her a slight, apologetic smile. "Sorry, I just ran into an acquaintance here. You two go ahead to the private room. I'll join you shortly."

Then he turned to Fu Haoyao and instructed: "Take good care of Teacher Fu."

Fu Liangxia carefully analyzed the information hidden in Fu Langshu's words.

He'd run into someone who put him in a bad mood just now, and yet he hadn't gone over to greet them, nor had he canceled their meeting. Instead, he'd only mentioned it after she and Fu Haoyao had arrived. That didn't add up.

Unless he'd done it on purpose.

So what was Fu Langshu getting at?

After following Fu Haoyao into the private room, Fu Liangxia set her bag down on a chair. Seeing that Fu Haoyao was seriously perusing the menu, she said, "I'm going to the restroom."

"Okay," he replied, still torn between ordering the wasabi shrimp balls or the scallion-fried ones, wondering whether Fu Liangxia minded scallions... He'd barely registered the words before instinctively responding.

It wasn't until a moment later, when he realized he could've just asked her, that he looked up from the menu—and suddenly remembered what she'd said.

Restroom?

But... there was one right in the room, wasn't there?

Meanwhile, Fu Liangxia had stepped out of the private room but didn't head toward the restroom indicated by the signs. Instead, she turned and walked back the way they'd come.

She hadn't taken more than a few steps when a male voice sounded from diagonally ahead: "You're quicker than I expected."